Landscape Information
Located in the southern portion of Elizabeth Park, this two-and-a-half acre oblong, parterre garden was established in 1904 by the city’s Superintendent of Parks, Theodore Wirth, on the former nursery grounds of Charles Pond’s nineteenth-century estate. Set on a relatively level lawn framed by a U-shaped drive, it is regarded as the oldest municipal rose garden in the country. At its founding, the garden comprised a one-acre square section, laid out by Wirth, and planted with 190 varieties of roses. In 1912 the site was selected as an official test garden of the American Rose Society, and the southern semi-circular section was added. In 1937 at the request of the Society, the northern semi-circle was laid out, completing the garden’s stadium shape.
At the middle of the central square, eight axial paths radiate outward from an elevated cedar-frame summer house draped in Virginia creeper. The paths are defined by regularly spaced arbors overlaid with climbing roses. The garden features a turf ground plane embellished with evenly spaced rows of rectilinear rose beds. The central arbor is accessible by four stairways placed at each cardinal direction, around which eight arced beds form a concentric circle. At the north and south, the semi-circular additions include central paths and rows of arced beds, extending the visual language of the central square. Fences for climbing roses define the edges of each section.
In 1977 the non-profit, Friends of Elizabeth Park (now the Elizabeth Park Conservancy) was established to rehabilitate the site and has since partnered with the city to manage the garden and surrounding park. The rose garden is a contributing feature of Elizabeth Park, listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
